The United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) have mutually agreed to reduce fighter’s fees as it relates to arbitration.
Although the fees do vary from fighter to fighter, UFC middleweight Yoel Romero once revealed during an interview that he paid nearly $3,000 to get the arbitration process, which he had to go through after failing a drug test in 2015.
Arbitration between a fighter and the UFC or USADA only occurs when a fighter wishes to challenge test results that were done by the UFC or USADA. If a fighter does not wish to challenge the results, then no fees would be administered.
Despite the fact that the fees have now been reduced, neither USADA or the UFC have revealed what the new costs will be. If a fighter does challenge the test results and is found innocent, all fees will be returned to the fighter.
USADA’s goals, and the UFC’s as well is to try to make the process more affordable for fighters, that way they can all get proper arbitration, and prove their innocence if that's the case.
"These changes will make arbitration more accessible for athletes, while still upholding the integrity of the arbitration process…The changes modify the original Arbitration Rules implemented under the UFC Anti-Doping Policy when it launched in July 2015” says a member of USADA.
The reduced fees will take effect on November 1st of this year, which means that the fighters have just over a month to have to deal with the current fees offered by both USADA and the UFC.
